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Thematic coins

Since 2002, Danmarks Nationalbank has issued coin series with common motifs. The themes of the 20-krone coins have been towers and ships, while those of the 10-krone coins have been fairy tales and Polar Year motifs. A portrait of the Queen is depicted on the obverse of all thematic coins.

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The series with motifs from Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales was issued in 2005-07 to mark the 200th anniversary of Hans Christian Andersen’s birth. In 2007-09, it was followed by a series of three coins to mark the International Polar Year. The Fairy Tale and Polar Year coins were also issued in collector’s editions in silver and gold.​

Tower coins

Århus City Hall Tower was the motif on first coin in the tower coin series and it was issued in December 2002. The motifs on the other nine coins were the Old Copenhagen Stock Exchange (Børsen), Christiansborg Palace Tower, The Goose Tower, Svaneke Water Tower, Landet Church (on the island of Tåsinge), Nólsoy Lighthouse (on the Faroe Islands), Gråsten Palace, Three Brothers (ïn Greenland) and the Copenhagen City Hall Tower. The latter completed the series and was issued in June 2007.

Fairy tale coinsTo mark the bicentenary of Hans Christian Andersen's birth, Danmarks Nationalbank started to issue a series of thematic coins with motifs from Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales. The series comprises five coins of which the final one inspired by the Nightingale fairy tale was issued in October 2007. The remaining coins carries motifs from the Ugly Duckling, the Little Mermaid, the Shadow and the Snow Queen.

Polar coinsTo mark the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-09, Danmarks Nationalbank issued a series of coins with motifs from the Polar regions.The Polar coins were issued in March 2007, February 2008 and February 2009 and carries motifs of a polar bear, the Sirius Sledge Patrol and the natural phenomenon of Northern Lights.

Ship coins The ship coin series comprises twelve coins and depicts different types of ships selected to cover as many aspects as possible of Danish maritime history. The first ship coin was issued in April 2007 with the surveillance vessel Vædderen (the Ram) as its motif. The final coin in the series was issued in December 2012 with a fishing vessel as the motif. The other ten coins carry motifs of the Frigate Jylland (Jutland), M/S Selandia, viking ship the Sea Stallion, the Royal Yacht Dannebrog, Lightship XVII, a Foroese boat, a Greenlandic Kayak-Umiak, the container vessel Emma Mærsk, paddle steamer Hjejlen and the ferry Kong Frederik IX.

Scientist coinsTo mark the centenary of the publication of Niels Bohr’s atomic theory, Danmarks Nationalbank issued a new series of coins with scientific theories developed by Danish scientists as their common theme. All of the four coins in the series were issued on 7 October 2013 and their motifs were Niels Bohr’s atomic model, Hans Christian Ørsted’s experiment demonstrating electromagnetism, Ole Rømer’s diagram describing the speed of light and Tycho Brahe’s constellation Cassiopeia accentuating the star Stella Nova.